Common
resident throughout most of Britain and Ireland. Some continental
birds also winter here.

All
kinds of waters, from estuaries and marshes to lakes in city
parks.

Tall with
long legs and neck, and grey and white plumage, yellowish
legs and bill. During breeding, legs and bill can become redder.
In flight looks very large with broad, arched wings.

94 cm (37")

Grey Heron

Gaunt grey herons
are among the most familiar of our local water birds. Fresh or salt, clear
or muddy each is acceptable so long as it will yield something worthwhile.

The bird doesn't always
wait for quarry but stalks through the shallows with long deliberate strides,
neck muscles tensed for spearing.

Eventually a fish
will pay the price of carelessness as the heron's kinked neck is straightened
with startling speed and the sharp bill stabs its prey - sometimes several
times. At Breydon, herons also known in Norfolk as the marshmen's harnser,
will wade until the body is afloat.

In the days of commercial
shipping to Norwich, these very successful fishermen regularly patrolled
the waterway following the coasters and on the look-out for damaged fish.
Without hesitation the herons alighted on the water before swimming towards
their prey.

Young waterbirds are
taken in hard weather by full-grown birds. A water-rail has been recovered
in a heron's stomach. Mice and rats are eaten and judging by the fur in
pellets, many water-voles.

The heron's breeding
season is prolonged. In early February in a mild season, they may be seen
soaring over the nesting wood and chasing one another, tilting from side
to side and diving head-long. An exciting performance to watch for next
to the mute swan the heron is our largest common bird. Endless display
takes place on old nest platforms and consists of elaborate neck movements
with crest and neck plumes erect and accompanied by bill-snapping and
a variety of blood-curdling calls.For
short periods the normally yellow-coloured bill and legs change dramatically
to deep orange, especially when a group assembles on the 'dancing grounds'
running and skipping first in one direction and then another with open
wings.

Occupied herons' nests
may be readily told by numerous droppings on the ground beneath them.
The pellets are the indigestible portions of heron's food. Unless blown
down by storms the same nest is used each spring. Old ones, massive platforms
3ft across, may also provide homes for nesting tree sparrows.

They are built in
the highest trees and constructed by branches and sticks. Local preferences
include alder and Scots pine. I've seen eggs laid during the last days
of February. The young maintain a ceaseless loud clicking call. Three
or four is an average clutch, but I've seen six eggs in a nest near Reedham.
The eggs take 27 days to hatch and the young remain in the nest seven
weeks.

The history of some
Norfolk heronries is well documented. One of the oldest and perhaps most
famous for the 'sport' its herons provided falconers is at Didlington.
It is still occupied today.

Herons suffer greatly
during severe weather and the majority of ringing recoveries are in winter.
But starvation is not the only cause of death. Recovery reports have included
examples 'caught in telephone wires,' 'found dead outside fox's earth,'
'caught on barbed wire' and 'shot poaching goldfish'. The longest living
individuals have attained 25 years.

Not all herons are
sedentary risking starvation in cold spells. Locally ringed birds have
been recovered in winter in France, Spain and Portugal when emigrants
marked in Norway and Sweden appear in Norfolk. Flights of incoming herons
are an annual autumn feature along the coast.